I knew the moment that everyone returned from the fact that the house had gone from weirdly silent one minute, to full of life the next. I hurriedly left my room, going downstairs.
The first person I heard was Calvin, telling everyone that we were going out for dinner. The first person I saw was Shadow. He was leaning against the wall, looking bored as usual. I stood a few steps above the final one and waited for Calvin to finish speaking. Everyone except Shadow was facing Calvin so no one saw me except him. His red eyes met mine but his expression gave nothing away. Finally, Calvin noticed me and his eyes widened.
"Amy Rose! I had no idea that you would return today!" he exclaimed and everyone turned simultaneously.
"Amy!" several exclaimed, only my close friends. Blaze and Cream rushed up to me.
"Oh, Amy we were all so worried about you! You're ok aren't you? They didn't amputate anything right?" Cream asked in a rush.
"No, Cream. I'm fine," I replied.
"Are you sure? Because I heard that--" she kept going but I looked at Blaze, who just stared at me, asking me with her eyes if I was ok.
"We should go out," Mighty the Armadillo announced. Calvin facepalmed.
"We already are! Were none of you listening?" he exclaimed. Everyone gathered around me on the stairs, asking if I was ok and how bad I had been and generally giving me more attention then I had ever had before. I looked past everyone and noticed Sonic at the edge of everyone, looking a little guilty, and Shadow, leaning against the wall still, arms crossed, watching me.
"I'm ok, guys, just a bit beat up. Thanks for your concern," I smiled, trying to assure everyone. They all dispersed a little, after finding out that I was in one piece and had no artificial limbs or anything.
"We all kind of hate him now," Blaze whispered to me as she passed, nodding to Sonic, who had turned to go the other way. I turned to reply to her, but she had already followed Silver up the stairs. The foyer was now empty, except for Shadow and me.
I walked down the last couple steps and approached him.
"Glad to see that you didn't have the same problems I did," I said lightly. He just stared at me. I cleared my throat awkwardly. "So, um, I guess I'll be going...somewhere else," I turned.
"I know he told you," Shadow's deep voice reverberated through the hall. I stopped.
"Thank you. You didn't need to do what you did. I'm in debt to you," I replied quietly.
"I did what I did for many reasons. You needn't thank me, and you are not in debited to me," he moved closer.
"But I do thank you, and I owe you my life. That is something I can never repay you for," I didn't turn to look at him, even though I knew he wasn't further than six inches from me.
"I don't want you to repay me. Don't feel indebted to me. I did it because I wanted to," he said, brushing past me. I watched him go, his red and black spikes facing me.
"Ok," I whispered, long after he had gone.
